Revenge Of The Wolf
by The Chuckinator
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog discovers that Remus, the famed son of Ares and twin brother of Romulus, founder of Rome, wants him as his reincarnation. Of course, Remus wants more than that, though. His blood is still on Romulus' hands. And he's not getting off that easy. A RP with Dragonblooded.
1. The Temple

Revenge Of The Wolf

By Dragonblooded and The Chuckinator

Chapter 1: The Temple

Sonic sighed. He'd been walking through the forest, exploring. There wasn't much to do at home, and he was bored. He kicked at a stone in his path, sending it skittering down the trail. It bounced once or twice before rolling softly and vanishing. Intrigued, Sonic chased the rock, discovering that the trail abruptly ended at a cliff. He peered down into the abyss and was surprised to see more than darkness below.

"What's that?" He asked himself. Gripping the edge of the cliff tightly, he leaned downward, straining his eyes to see. It looked like... "A temple?" he mused aloud. His question echoed around him.

Sonic's curiosity got the better of him. He scaled down the cliff, eventually jumping down on the ground in front of it. The blue hedgehog walked inside and looked around. The temple was dusky. A gaping hole in the roof let in one thick glowing beam of sun, lighting upon dust motes throughout the air. Sonic coughed and swatted at them, agitating the air. The sunlight quickly reflected off his bracelet and shone on a dilapidated statue in the corner. Ancient writing was on the walls. Sonic looked confused when he found that he could somehow read it.

Even though it was legible, that didn't mean it made much sense. The text kept referring to how some warrior would rise again, a warrior 'of four gray feet' who 'calls to his glowing queen in the sky'. It seemed like a story about some sort of zombie apocalypse. Sonic shuddered and turned to observe the tall looming statue. Sonic sighed. He ignored the warning and walked further into the temple. Something odd was awakening inside him: flashes of memories from a previous life. Sonic had never been one to believe in reincarnation, but the blurbs of memories invaded his mind that weren't his, yet were, caused him serious doubt.

Sonic screamed in pain as he opened his eyes, which were now yellow slits. He ran to the center of the temple and placed a hand on a pedestal that sent energy into his body while taking his spirit out at the same time. The spirit then flew around the temple until it landed inside the pedestal, and glowed brightly. After a few moments the glow died away, leaving only complete quiet.

Sonic's eyes slowly cracked open. "Nnngh." he moaned, the world spinning fuzzily. Slowly it straightened itself out. He looked around at the dusky temple. The silence had become blanketing, and eerie. Sonic shook the feeling and glanced down. Below him lay...him. Sonic's eyes quickly widened as it became obvious that his body was laying in front of him. He looked around. What happened?

Sonic was startled by a deep voice somewhere. "Welcome, hedgehog, to my humble abode."

The spirit looked around and saw another appear in front of him. "Who are you?" Sonic asked.

The mist-shrouded form chuckled ominously. "You know very well who I am." it said in a deep thundering voice, "Sonic."

The hedgehog spirit looked confused, and shook his head. "I don't remember you. Can you tell me who you are?" He looked down at the ground at his solid body, then at the one he currently had: a transparent, ghost-like body. "Am I dead?"

"You are very much alive, Sonic." the spirit replied, "At the moment."

"What do you mean?"

The spirit chuckled and waved lazily. "Do not take it to heart, young hedgehog. I merely mean that at some point you will not be alive. I am not implying that point is soon." The spirit smiled a little curve that cut through the fog shrouding his face. "You will have to excuse me, Sonic. I have not spoken to a living being in many years. I can be a little...cold-blooded at times."

"If I am alive, why am I a ghost?" Sonic asked. "And who are you?"

"You are not a ghost, naive little hedgehog." the spirit replied darkly, adding a creepy smile. "Yet."

"If I'm alive, why do you keep insinuating I'm dead?! Tell me who you are! Tell me why I'm here!"

The spirit sighed. "Very well. My name is Remus, and I am the brother of Romulus, the first king of Rome. My brother murdered me, and I ended up here." The fog concealing him melted away, and Sonic gasped when he saw a blue hedgehog that looked just like him. "I am a werewolf, young one."

Sonic blinked once, twice, three times and still saw himself watching him with a slightly cocked head. One thing Remus had said stuck out to Sonic. "If you are a werewolf, then shouldn't you be a wolf and not a hedgehog?"

Remus smiled a dark half-smile. He closed his eyes and transformed into a wolf. Sonic looked at Remus in shock as the wolf opened his golden-yellow slitted eyes. "Now werewolf works just fine, does it not?" Remus asked, showing off his long pointed teeth in a yawn. "You, young hedgehog, are about as entertaining as Romulus was. Let us get to the point, shall we?"

"Which is?" Sonic prompted.

"You are my reincarnation. It is time to awaken your true form."


	2. The Wolf

Chapter 2: The Wolf

Sonic opened his mouth to make a very intelligent and sarcastic comment, which ended up coming out something like, "I-uh-wha?"

"I know. Hard to believe something like..." Remus wrinkled his nose contemptuously and waved a hand at Sonic. "YOU could be the reincarnation of the great Remus, son of Ares."

Sonic blinked. "So...what's my true form? How do awaken it?"

Remus smiled smugly and gestured to his wolf body. "This, boy, is your true form." He quirked a brow as he studied the hedgehog. "Though judging based on your pasta arms and dim intellect, you could barely hold a rapier or battle the Sphinx, let alone sustain this form. It could take years of training before you are capable of something this awe-inspiring."

Sonic rolled his eyes at the wolf. "How do I turn into it?" He asked.

"There is a ritual at the full moon that will allow you to take on the form of a wolf. Luckily, that is tonight."

"Hmph. Well that's coincidental."

Remus snorted. "Coincidental?! You chalk this up to mere coincidence! I brought you here. I carefully orchestrated a master plan to draw you here at this very time. Whom do you think ensured all of your friends were preoccupied just when you were looking for something to do? Whom do you think planted signs and called up vines on all of the side trails? Pluto, I even placed a rock in your path so you would kick it!"

Sonic cocked his head. "Pluto?"

"Pluto, Hades, Osiris, Lucifer. Call him what you will."

"All right," Sonic said, a smile coming to his face. "So...I'm your reincarnation. That's pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. What's the ritual?"

"We must invoke the god of death, Letus, to fully transfer my soul to your body."

"How do we go about doing that?"

Remus gestured to the ancient texts on the wall next to the prophecy that Sonic now realized was about Remus. "An ancient prayer may be a god way to start."

The spirit nodded and looked at the large wolf, who began to chant in Latin. Sonic groaned in pain as an aura surrounded him, and he was back in his body. The wolf continued to chant. Slowly, Sonic's features began to change. His bright fur turned darker and his ear pointed. He made a high-pitched noise and opened his mouth when his teeth began to sharpen and poke into the tongue of his not-yet-changed mouth. As he suffered these transformations, the Latin words Remus spoke began to make sense.

Sonic groaned and continued to change. He fell on all fours as his knees reversed; the arms and legs growing with muscle. His hands and feet turned into paws as sharp black claws forced their way from them. His spine began to lengthen as his tail grew.

Suddenly, the words stopped, and with them the pain. Remus leaned over the still-writhing Sonic and admired his handiwork. "The physical transformation is complete." He said, "Now we must transfer the spirit."

Sonic whimpered and nodded. His face lengthened into a snout as his fur thickened and turned black. Remus chanted some more as his spirit fused with Sonic. The black wolf howled as it felt its body growing larger, reaching 200 feet in height. Its eyes turned out slits and were now golden-yellow. Its mind changed also, and now all it wanted to do was kill. It would finish what Remus had started. It raised its head and let out a loud howl.


	3. A Full Moon

Chapter 3: A Full Moon

Sonic faltered and shook his head. That had been an unpleasant feeling. He looked around him and noticed the wolf spirit was gone. Sonic wasn't sure how much he trusted the spirit out of his sight. _Remus?_ he tentatively called, surprised that he was speaking in wolf language. _You there, buddy?_

The once-hedgehog winced as a loud voice answered, "_I am right here, you imbecile!"_ It was only after Remus was done talking that Sonic realized he had said this inside his mind.

The giant wolf nodded. _So...what now?_

Remus snorted violently, which did not feel pleasant in Sonic's head. "_What now? You have just been formed as the sole chosen reincarnation of the famed Remus, son of Rhea Silvia, and the first thing you have to say is, What now?"_ The Roman sighed.

_You obviously have something in mind. What do you want me to do?_

_"I do have one thought..."_ Remus said darkly. He chuckled and his tone changed. _"No no, not yet. You are far too much of a-what is the term, 'greenhorn'?-to the spirit world to do anything of THAT sort."_ Sonic winced as Remus quickly returned him to his traditional form. _"Go on now. Go about your life. Do not mind me. I will speak to you when I deem you ready. I have waited millennia for this. A few weeks more is a mere moment to wait for me."_

"All right. Can I turn into a wolf at will, or what?" Sonic asked.

_"At first you probably will not. You must prove yourself worthy of the spirit of a wolf. And not only any wolf, but a wolf such as I."_

"How do I do that?"

_"It is not something you can do on purpose. It is in your reflexes, your reactions, the most animalistic of your ways. You will know when you have proven yourself."_ Remus laughed at Sonic's wry face. _"Do not concern yourself so much. I have faith in you, hedgehog."_ Remus paused. _"I am not sure why..."_

Sonic nodded and left the temple. He yawned and looked up at the sky. The full moon was appearing. Sonic stopped and groaned in pain as he transformed. He glanced down at himself. _Why am I a wolf, Remus?_

_"It is not my fault! I cannot control myself under a full mo-"_ His statement was cut off by a long howl that shook Sonic's head from the inside.

Sonic growled as his mind changed. He wanted to kill and cause havoc. The giant wolf raised his head and howled, then ran off into the forest. Sonic skidded to a halt and shook his head wildly._ Remus, what has gotten-_ He broke off in an involuntary howl. _Into you?_

Speaking hurriedly between yowling, Remus breathed, _"Toldyoufullmoonnotmyfault!"_

Sonic growled as wolfish instincts took over. He howled again and looked around hungrily. He took off down a path in the ravine on all fours. Suddenly he froze, his nose turning to the cliff wall next to him. Scenting something, the wolf scrabbled up the cliff face. He saw a deer grazing and crouched, then pounced. The animal squirmed beneath him, wildly flailing its hooves. Sonic licked his lips and lunged. Teeth mere millimeters from his kill, he froze. Leaning back, he sidled off the deer, his kindness earning him a hoof to the face.

_Remus, what am I doing?_ he sighed.

_"You're hunting,"_ Remus said. _"Now attack that deer!"_

Sonic growled and attacked the deer, killing it. He could hear Remus practically slavering in his mind. Every wolfish instinct in his body told him to chow down, but somewhere in that wolf's mind there was still a hedgehog. He held the limp deer beneath his paws, staring at its pitiful form. He sighed. _Remus, I can't-_ he began, suddenly cut off when an involuntary howl was wrenched from his throat.

He snarled and looked at the deer, then began to eat it as he stripped its flesh of meat. The taste was delicious, and he wanted more. Just then, he heard a rustle in the bushes. Sonic turned and leapt without even thinking. He gripped the animal and hoisted it out of the brush, just under his jaws. He was probably slavering all over its face, but he didn't care. The creature screamed loudly. The wolf growled and looked at the creature, who whimpered in pain.

Sonic blinked. Maybe it was the strange shadows the full moon was casting on the ground (and his mind) but the animal looked...familiar. He leaned close to its neck. It squealed desperately. Sonic sniffed once. Yes, that scent was definitely familiar. _"Wait, when did I start recognizing people by scent?"_ he thought.

_"It's a wolf thing,"_ Remus answered. _"You'll get used to it."_

Sonic returned his attention to the creature, who was now kicking and screaming fiercely, tears streaming out of its eyes. The moon was addling his brain. He thought he had a name. It was on the tip of his tongue. He decided to try it, cautiously saying it out loud in a low voice.

_Tails? _The two-tailed fox whimpered again. He looked at Sonic in confusion. The giant wolf frowned; Tails didn't understand him? Maybe it was because he was a wolf. _Tails, it's me, Sonic._

The fox shied away from his pointed teeth. "Stop growling at me! Just eat me and be done with it!" Tails whined.

_Tails, I'm not gonna eat you._ He merely squeaked and shrank farther away. Sonic sighed. _Remus, I need to change back._

_"You can't,"_ Remus told him. _"Not when the full moon is up."_

Sonic closed his eyes. _Really. REALLY._

_"Yes. Really. What is so hard to understand about this?"_

The giant wolf opened his eyes and growled at Tails, then scratched him across the chest and ran off, howling. The anthro fox stood up and watched him leave, tears streaming from his eyes.


	4. Remus's Anger

Chapter 4: Remus's Anger

_Remus, when will the full moon go down?_ Sonic panted, still talking in wolf language.

The wolf spirit was silent for a moment. _"Seven hours, forty-six minutes, twelve seconds and counting."_ He quickly rambled telepathically.

Sonic pushed away curious thought of where that number was pulled from. _What?! Seven hours?!_

_"Until morning."_

Sonic growled angrily and lay down. _And what am I supposed to do until then? What do you usually do when you're in a wolfish rampage?_

Remus was stubbornly silent before sullenly admitting, _"Slashing trees and pretending they were...him."_

_Romulus?_

_"Yeah."_

Sonic sighed and nodded, then yawned. _What did he do to you, anyway?_

Something in Sonic mind immediately changed, and instinct told him he had struck a nerve even before Remus said anything.

_"What did he do to me?"_ Remus repeated in a frighteningly calm voice, _"What did he do to me. What DID he do to me?"_ Sonic was getting very concerned by the repetition. _"Oh, nothing REALLY, I suppose. Just, you know, killed me in cold blood. To prove a point. To prove a gods-damned point."_

His voice was cold and calculated. Emotion wasn't potent in it at all. There was no rage. There was no anger. There was no...anything. And that was really beginning to disturb Sonic.

_"We were going to build the city of Rome, you know. A city together. I knew it would be a great empire. We would need space. We would need resources. That's why I suggested we build our city on Aventine Hill. It was large, the largest of the hills nearby. It was close to the Tiber. Water would never be a problem. But Romulus liked Palatine Hill. To this day I haven't a clue why. It was puny, pathetic. It was farther from the river than it needed to be. There was no reason to build it there. But Romulus was insistent, so I suggested we determine the gods' will, through an augury. We each set up on our hills. I was determined that Lady Athena and my father, Lord Ares, would praise me for my logic and wisdom and strategy; they would convince their father, Lord Zeus, king of the gods, to send me a sign. And a sign I saw: six vultures, an auspicious and meaningful bird, winging their way through the sky, far before my brother caught a glimpse of anything. The gods had recognized my intelligence, and supported me in building on Aventine Hill."_

The tone in the dead wolf's voice had turned bitter, biting off the ends of his words and saying his brother's name in sneering, mocking tones. But his voice never rose. Not a note. And Sonic knew that if an angered person didn't raise their voice, it was the calm before a storm.

_"Yet of course, Romulus had to have his way. He claimed he saw TWELVE birds from his stumpy little hill, where you were so low to the ground you couldn't see the sun unless Helios himself slapped you across the face. Oh, WONDERFUL. TWELVE stupid little birds. He 'saw' them after me, of course. He could not let me have anything over him. But his supposed 'number' was higher." Remus snorted, a sudden angry noise that made Sonic jump to his feet, which Remus did not seem to notice. "Quality over quantity, brother, is that not what they say? Romulus would not admit he was lying, the brat. He merely gathered his devoted bootlicking proselytes and built himself a wall around his dumpy hill." Remus made a disgusted noise. "Petty. So horribly petty. It was a short little wall too, to match his short little hill. I belittled his stupid wall, trying to make him see how ignorant he was being. It is like when children played in the mud at the banks of the Tiber, or the sandy coast, building castles and fortresses. Have you ever done that, Sonic? Have you ever built castles in the sand?"_

Alarmed to be directly addressed in the middle of Remus' odd and potentially dangerous rant, Sonic sputtered, _Uh, yeah, once or twice._

_"Of course you have; you have the intelligence of a child yourself."_ Sonic bristled at the insult but was cut off when Remus dove back in. _"It was just like that. Where one of the children draws a line in the sand and says 'That side is your side. This side is my side. You stay on your side. I stay on my side. Don't cross the line.' The other was guaranteed to see it as a challenge, to quickly poke a toe on the other's side and draw it back. See how many times it could be done before retaliation. It was a game. Always a game. There was never a child who didn't toe the line._

_"Romulus's childish behavior forced me to respond in kind to get him to acknowledge anything. So I criticized his line, his wall. I poked fun at it, harmless little children-jokes. He was being stupidly stubborn, and I wanted him to acknowledge the fact that I had chosen a more logical site. He ignored me; just kept building his imbecilic wall. And let me tell you, THAT was aggravating. So I walked up to his dwarven wall; he did nothing. I placed my palms on it; he did nothing. I kicked it; nothing. I jumped over it; BAM!"_ Sonic nearly screamed from the sudden loud shout inside his head. _"Dead. He killed me."_

Sonic growled. _I'm...sorry._

_"Sorry?"_ Remus asked. He laughed. _"There's nothing to be sorry about. I will have my revenge."_

Sonic blinked. He didn't want to rain on Remus's rave-parade, mostly for his health's sake. Don't poke bears with sticks. Never tickle sleeping dragons. Logically, he was fairly sure ticking off a vengeful wolf was on that list of Things Not to Do if You Wanted to Retain your Limbs. But, his stubborn personality got in the way of his logic, so in his most friendly and conversational tone he said, _Look, Remus, buddy, I really hate to break it to you, but your twin...he's kind of dead._ Sonic winced and added to himself, _So please don't kill me instead._

The spirit chuckled. Sonic sighed and yawned, then went to sleep, thinking about what Remus had told him.


	5. Control

Chapter 5: Control  


When Sonic woke, his head was surprisingly clear. He opened one eye and saw no trace of the humongous moon that had taunted him all night. In his spirit-sleep, Remus seemed calmer without the full moon to bother him, and far less likely to breaking out howling or ranting angrily. With his not entirely wanted mind-companion asleep, Sonic had his thoughts completely to himself. He sighed and stood on four legs, noticing that the sun was rising. The warm sun ghosted over his dark fur, a brilliant contrast. Sonic closed his eyes and smiled at the pleasing warmth. It felt as if his long thick fur was shrinking closer to his skin so that his skin could experience more of the heat. When Sonic opened his eyes his breath caught in surprise. Somehow while his eyes were closed he had painlessly transformed back into a hedgehog. Even his boots and bracelets had reappeared.

Sonic was confused. When he had first morphed into a wolf, it had hurt. It had hurt like hell. But he hadn't felt a thing when he had returned to his natural form. He hadn't even noticed. Sonic hadn't a clue why he looked like his old self again.

A realization hit him. He looked like his old self again. His old self, as in, the blue hedgehog everyone in Station Square recognized. Everyone, including an orange kitsune. Sonic took off at lightning speed through the forest. "Tails?!"

The hedgehog looked around. What happened to Tails? He remembered what he had done, and felt guilty. Sonic assumed Tails would have returned to his home, so he kept running and set his course for a house he knew nearly as well as his own. When he got there, he knocked on the door. A few minutes later, Tails opened it. He looked at Sonic.

"Hey, Sonic," Tails said.

"Tails," Sonic breathed, relieved. He wasn't sure why he had been so nervous-he knew Tails hadn't been killed or traumatized-but seeing Tails standing in front of him was an entire world off his shoulders. His eyes dropped from Tails' eyes to his chest, where three long scabbed angry red gashes stood out among the white fur. Sonic hand lifted, moving to touch them.

Tails followed his gaze. "Oh, those? They're just scratches. I was attacked by a wolf last night. My fault for wandering about in the forest near midnight." The fox mistook the remorse in Sonic's eyes for concern. "Really, I'm fine. I whipped up an extra-strength antibiotic for them. I'm good. They won't even scar."

The hedgehog smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I am too. That wolf scared the living daylights out of me."

"Mind if I come in?"

"I'd be offended if you didn't." The fox stepped out of the doorway and let Sonic in. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Sure," Sonic said, and sat down at the table. "So this wolf...what was it like?"

Tails shuddered. "It was huge...at least two hundred feet tall."

Sonic blinked. He remembered growing significantly in height when he first transformed, but had he really been that tall? On the other hand, he thought he might have originally been taller. Sonic scanned himself and sighed inwardly. He can pass two hundred feet as a wolf, but can't surpass five feet as a hedgehog. Of course.

Tails smiled at him. "You doing anything today? Maybe we can hang out. I could show you an invention I'm making."

Sonic opened his mouth to say "Yes!", "Of course!", or something along those lines, but quickly snapped it shut. What if Remus lost his head and he hurt Tails even worse than before? Last night the moon had been driving Remus insane, dragging Sonic along as well as some of the guilt and responsibility he felt. But Sonic wasn't sure he could handle another serving of it.

So instead he said, "Let me try to remember if I have anything going on." He closed his eyes and silently asked, telepathically _"Remus?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Am I going to transform at all today?"_

_"No, idiot hog."_ Sonic began to accept the fact that he was going to be affectionately insulted on a daily basis. _"I told you earlier, you may be a wolf in mind, or more likely, you may THINK you are, but you have to earn the mantle of a werewolf. You not born into it, nor did a werewolf deign to bite you, so before you can transform into a wolf willy-nilly and sully our good name-"_

_"Wolves don't have a great reputation..."_ Sonic thought.

_"HUSH! Anyway, before you can do all that, you have to prove yourself to me. So no, you will not transform."_

Sonic sighed in relief; that was good. _"What do I have to do to prove myself?"_

_"It isn't that simple. There is no one task. 'You must climb this mountain.' 'You must swim this river.' 'You must kill this man.' It is not something done on purpose. It must be instinct, true wolf spirit. When I see the wolf on your inside, then it will appear on the outside as well. It is that simple."_

The hedgehog frowned, confused. he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and looked at Tails, who was looking at him curiously. "You okay, Sonic? You spaced out there for a bit."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Sonic offered a small smile. "I think I'm free."

"Great! Follow me!" Sonic smiled and followed Tails. "You're gonna love it, Sonic. I've calibrated it perfectly, so when it's used, its chances of misfiring are one in..."

Sonic smiled idly, zoning out of Tails' babble and merely enjoying the familiarity, comfort, and non-wolf-ness of what he was doing. His world had been turned on its head in the course of one day. It was nice to know something was still right side up.

They reached a machine in Tails' lab, and Sonic looked at it. "What kind of invention is this?"

"It's an animalia lycanthropy inverter."

_"Oh, yes, logically."_ Remus commented to Sonic in a snarky tone.

Sonic ignored him and asked, "What does it do?"

"Well, it's still in its prototype stages, but when it's finished, it should be able to turn ordinary animals into anthros," Tails said.

"That's cool."

Thanks!" Tails said with a beam. "When it's done, it should also be able to reverse the process, so if anyone's unhappy, we can fix it, but think of the impact it could have! We could have a larger work force, a bigger military-"

_"A faster rate of overpopulation!"_ Remus mocked. Sonic told him to shut up in a very colorful way.

"Can it turn anthros into humans, and vice-versa?" Sonic asked. Tails nodded, and Remus yawned loudly. _"Remus, what the hell is your problem?"_ Sonic snapped.

_"Your friend bores me. He is all talk, no action. He speaks of what this machine will do but does not make it capable of doing so. He reminds me of Romulus."_

Sonic sighed and shook his head. He looked at Tails. "Can I test it?"

Tails grimaced. "I don't know, Sonic. Right now it's not going to do anything, but when it's ready it's just as liable to explode as it is to turn you into a human. And if it worked, there's no guarantee it would turn you back either. It's better not to risk it."

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Okay. So, do you want to hang out?"

Just as Tails answered with a grin, Remus grumbled, _"Oh, no, I cannot take more of THIS guy."_

"Remus, cut it out, you're being rude-" Sonic began, but he was cut off when he suddenly winced. "What?" he thought. "But I didn't-" "Ooh, sorry Tails, I just remembered, I have somewhere to be." Sonic heard himself say. He felt his mouth move, the tickle in his throat that meant he was speaking, but he didn't intend to say a word.

Tail's face dropped. "Oh. Well, alright. Goodbye, Sonic."

"Bu-" Sonic's jaw clamped shut on its own accord, cutting him off. It morphed into a small sympathetic smile. _"No, wait, I didn't-"_ he sputtered in his mind. "See you later, Tails." his voice said aloud, without his consent. Sonic turned on his heel and walked out the door, all without moving a muscle. _What the hell is going on?!_ he thought. _What is wrong with me?! _He jumped when he heard the last word aloud. Sonic froze, slowly moving his hands in front of his eyes. _"Is it gone?"_ he asked aloud. _"Remus, is it gone?"_

_"Yes, 'it' is gone."_ Remus answered.

Sonic gasped in relief, sinking to the ground. _"What...what was that?"_ Sonic said aloud, reveling in the feel of his voice under his control. _"What could've...what did...what?"_

_"So eloquent."_ Remus quipped.

Sonic jumped slightly, forgetting Remus in his confusion. Remus... _"Remus, was that you?"_ The Roman didn't answer. When Sonic probed at him with his mind, he shied away. _"It was you, wasn't it?" No answer. "Why, Remus? Why?"_

_"I sensed something...a presence I have not felt since..."_

Sonic was not amused with Remus' spiritual act. He did NOT appreciate Remus taking control of him for no good reason. _"Sensed something, huh? You mean annoyance? Look, I can understand if you don't like my friend, but that doesn't give you the right to take control of my mind just to get away from him! There's no excuse for that, Remus, three-thousand-year-old wolf or not. Who do you think you are, using my mind and lying to Tails?!"_

Remus' temper flared. _"Foolish hog! There are matters greater than you and your quaint 'friends'. Should it serve my purposes, I shall seize control of your puny brain like it is my own and deceive everyone you know. The pitiful life you once led does not matter, Sonic. The aggravating creatures you deem 'friends' do not matter. Understand me in this, if nothing else, hedgehog. In the 'long run', nothing of yours matters. Nothing of yours will survive. No one will remember you. Nothing matters but my revenge."_ He paused, then bitterly added, _"And I'm 2,786, not 3,000!"_ He continued his rant. _"What I sensed was your friend. Something was not right about him. I sensed Romulus, and that can only mean one thing...he is the reincarnation of my long-dead brother!"_


	6. Remus' Accusation

Chapter 6: Remus' Accusation

Sonic blinked once. Sonic blinked twice. Sonic slowly stepped away from Tails' doorstep, and once he was out of earshot, burst into loud raucous laughter. He guffawed loudly while the dead wolf in his mind bristled. The hedgehog was forced to sweep tears from his eyes when he was done, which was not for quite some time._ "Oh, that was a good one, Remus. Real good."_

_"I am NOT being FUNNY."_ the Roman stated.

_"Seriously though, just because you don't like my friend doesn't mean you can go accusing him of being your long-lost long-dead jerk of a brother."_

_"He is, though! That was Romulus' spirit in that fox boy, I'm sure of it. Moneta has laid my brother upon him to chase me back into the Fields of Punishment!"_

_"Moneta? Who's that?"_

_"Memory, you numskull!"_

Sonic cut off the incoming stream of insults. "_Wait, what do you mean, 'chase you back to the Fields of Punishment'? Where are those? What are they?" Remus was silent. "...Are they a jail? Did you escape from them? Remus?!"_

_"It doesn't matter,"_ Remus said hurriedly.

"Tell me!" Sonic yelled out loud.

Startled birds fluttered out of bushes, and a terrified rabbit ran for the hills. _"For Jupiter's sake, there was no need for that."_ Remus said calmly.

"There will be if you don't tell me. Remus, are you an escaped prisoner?"

The wolf sighed petulantly. _"No, Sonic, I am not an escaped prisoner, and the Fields of Punishment are not penitentiaries."_

"Then what are they?"

Remus hesitated. He sighed and was about to speak when Tails walked up. "You okay, Sonic? I heard you shouting."

The blue hedgehog smiled at his friend. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine."

Tails walked back inside, and Remus spoke. _"The Fields of Punishment do not matter now."_ he said, _"I am here now, not there. They are the past. Our focus must be on the present."_ Remus paused, long enough for Sonic to note the irony of that phrase from someone holding a grudge from a millennium ago. When the wolf spoke again, it was prefaced by a small huff of a sigh, almost undetectable, as if what he was about to say annoyed him. _"And I...suppose...that perhaps I...made a...mistake...about your...friend."_ Sonic could sense Remus' pride straining to admit that. _"I...apologize."_

Sonic had a bit of suspicion niggling him in the back of his brain, but he ignored it and accepted the wolf's apology, willing to let bygones be bygones.

But those bygones had not gone by just yet...

That night, Sonic was thinking about what Remus had told him. Was Tails really the reincarnation of Romulus? If he was, what would Remus try to do? He didn't want Tails dead. Sonic shook his head hard and smacked himself on the forehead until the thought was banished. No, no, no, that was crazy. That was what he got for spending time with an ancient dead paranoid wolf who took sibling rivalry to new levels: believing hare-brained ideas that the aforementioned ancient dead paranoid wolf thought of. He shoved that thought to the very back of his brain, where it stayed, small but not forgotten, and instead focused upon a matter more pressing: Remus' horrible new behavior. The wolf had assumed control of his mind and completely dominated Sonic without the slightest bit of trouble, and it was concerning Sonic. Did Remus think that was okay? If so, he really needed to talk to the wolf, soon.

Remus was very worried, though, Sonic thought. He was concerned that Romulus was there and would harm him. With a infinitesimal smile, Sonic thought that perhaps the wolf had been trying to protect him, too. Sonic sighed and turned on the TV. A few hours later, he fell asleep with it still on.


End file.
